Sick day, temp basal starts
I’ve come down with a head and chest cold in the last several days. I expected to see a rise in BGs and the need to set a temp basal. Well, yesterday morning while getting dressed I inadvertently pulled at the infusion site on my back with the waist band of my PJs.
Since I couldn’t see the site directly, I watched my BGs closely. When they climbed from the 90s to the 130s between 8 and 10 a.m., I decided to pull the site early and nip this climb in the bud. When I removed the old site, it didn’t look like the cannula was kinked or otherwise impaired.
So I decided to set a temp basal of +40% for a few hours to see if perhaps my cold was demanding more insulin. that appears to be the case. I later backed off to +20%. As you can see, my BGs floated higher in the latter half of the day but not too high.
I’m continuing with my +20% temp basal today since I was able to stay in range overnight. I don’t like adding this insulin but my body is asking for it and high BGs are worse than extra insulin. I’m also using some cough drops to quell the hacking cough and that adds about 2 grams of carbs per cough drop. Extra carbs I don’t need but they do provide relief. I’m trying to mostly sip water to relieve my throat scratchiness.
Overall, I’m happy with my sick day results:
94% Time in Range (65-140 mg/dl)
0% Time low (< 65 mg/dl)
20 Standard Deviation
113 mg/dl Average